Orn's Travel Blog

We are now on our way to the city of Hue – home to the emperors and kings of the past – so we are back on the trip route, check on the right hand side of the blog.  Hoi An is behind us and we hope that all the clothes are on their way Hanoi-Paris-Reykjavík and will be waiting for us when we arrive at home on the first of May.

Below are some advice to those that might be going to Hoi An and what they can learn from our experience but first I’ll tell you what we got.

I ended up getting two suits, one in silk and one in cashmere wool, three cotton shirts and one silk to match the suit and one sport jacket (Thong Phi).  All that added up to just over $300 – the price I would pay for cheapest suit and shirt in H&M in Europe.  I was extremely happy with all of my items as all of them turned out great.  I just hope that the quality turns out to be as good and the clothes will last a while.

Elínborg got four dresses, a white cotton shirt and classic black trousers made.  She got one really sexy black cocktail dress that we both love :)  Very nicely fitted and the quality was decent after asking the tailor to fix a couple of things.

There was a gray everyday jersey dress with a hood.  The dress looked really nice but she had to have them redo some of the stitching so we’ll see how that one lasts.

The third was a yellow satin dress that turned out nicely, Elínborg is though thinking about shortening it back home but we’ll see.

The last dress was a silk gown that she found in a celeb magazine worn by the cheerleader in heroes.  That one didn’t turn out quite the way it was in the magazine so Elínborg isn’t happy with that one.  Maybe it looks better when she is all blinged up back home – I hope so.  On top of the dresses she got some classic black trousers and white shirt.  Both fitted perfectly and looked very nice.

Below is a review of the tailors that we used and advice to those that want to go to Hoi An and have some clothes made.  I hope this can be of some help.

• Yaly (Tran Phu 47) – The best tailor we tried for sure.  Very professional and well managed.  The sales girls didn’t seem as enthusiastic to sell you stuff but they are very professional and give good advice on the whole process.  Quality is extremely important to Yaly and clothes are not shipped out unless everything is perfect.  They might be more expensive than some others but when we really dug into it we found them on the same level as most of the better ones
• Phuoc An (Le Loi St. 6) – A very good tailor with very good quality.  I was extremely happy with my suite but unfortunately Elínborg was not happy with her dress.  The sales girls didn’t give her good advice on material but in the end we had no complains about the quality or the service.  We found them a bit too pricy but maybe we were just bummed that the dress didn’t turn out well.
• Thong Phi (Le Loi St. 28) – A decent tailor all in all.  They were quite cheap and did quite well.  Everything fitted nicely but the quality and the finishing was lacking.  If you want things a bit cheaper we could recommend them but remember that by going cheaper you get less
• Thu Linh I (Tran Phu 34) –  A decent tailor as well.  The sales girls there was very nice and Elínborg did one dress there for $20 and it turned out exactly as expected with a decent quality.  The only complain that we have is they over promised a bit on time so we had to come back in an hour but that can always happen.

So what did we learn from the whole process?  There are certainly a few things that we would address differently if we come again to Hoi An and also a few things that worked well for us.  Below are a couple of points:

• Take your time – measuring cloths can be a lengthy process so don’t allot too little time.  If you want top quality it can take at least 3-4 days.  The more expensive ones take more time and in turn produce better quality.
• Don’t tell them when you leave so that you can be in charge of controlling the process – not them.  You set deadlines, otherwise some of them might count on you being in a hurry at the end and forget or simply don’t have the time to make more changes or check the quality.
• Negotiate the prices, ask around to know the going rate.  Asking the locals at your hotel might be a good idea.  There were mostly fixed prices at Yaly but still I got $35 off a suit by talking to different sales girls – they also have different branches so check there.
• Ask for prices of cheaper materials, you might like them just as much or even better.
• Better to sacrifice material quality than workmanship.  There is no fun in having a fancy silk dress that doesn’t hang together.
• Be really precise in what you want both in the beginning and also during the later fitting sessions.  If you want to change something, even if it is different from what you had initially asked for, just ask them – there is no harm in asking.

We ended up dealing with four different tailors and my garments ended all out being great but Elínborg’s dresses were of varying quality.  If we were to repeat the process we would order everything through Yaly – no doubt.  They might cost a bit more than some of the others but you definitely also receive more in better service, better advice and a better end product.  The extra money is well worth it!

If any opinions change after we get home and start wearing the clothes I’ll update this post and let you guys know.

If you have any comments, questions or remarks – don’t hesitate to shoot.  English, German or Icelandic is fine :)

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UPDATE:  Now I’ve been at home for a while and have used all the clothes that I bought so I thought an update on the quality and usability could be helpful for people that are planning to have something made in Hoi An.

I can’t remember if I wrote about the shipping on the blog but we had everything shipped from Yaly.  The postman came there and took care of everything for us.  All the clothes arrived in perfect condition, everything was neatly packed and looked good when we came home.

So I’ve used some of the items that I bought quite a lot but others less.  The only complain I can really make regarding quality is the quality of the material in my black suite.  I though I was buying a good quality wool but when I compare them with my other suites it is obvious that the quality is not quite the same – not bad but not great either.

I’ve used my sport-jacket and my shirts a lot and everything has been just great, no loose stitching or a signs of poor workmanship.  I’ve used the silk suite a couple of times and it looks great, I use the jacket more and it’s really cool with jeans.  Same goes for the black suite, I’ve used it a few times and the jacket is also very cool with jeans.

My only regret now is not having more clothes done, especially casual everyday clothes like the sport-jacket.  If I would work in a suite all days I would also have liked to have a couple of plain and versatile suites made from the highest quality wool .  The suites that I had made are more for special occasions.

As for my wife, she has used the gray and the black dress quite a lot and is very happy with those.  The other two have not been used so far but I’m sure the yellow one will be used given the right occasion next summer – it’s perfect for a summer wedding or something like that.